Perhaps you didn't know that the man who was fundamental in the birth of IWC, Heinrich Moser, started a company that still bears his name in 1828 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Perhaps you didn't know he established a factory in Le Locle in 1829 and was a regular customer of Urban Jurgensen and Jaeger LeCoultre for the next 50 years.

Perhaps you didn't know that the Russian side of the business was absorbed without compensation by the Russian state during the October Revolution in 1917. Perhaps you didn't know that the brand disappeared when absorbed by an engineering conglomerate in the late 1970's. Perhaps you didn't know that today over twenty Swiss watch companies use hairsprings manufactured by this Schaffhausen brand...

What you will know, if you're a fan of exquisite wristwatches, is that the current incarnation of the Moser brand - reborn in 2005 - produce some of the most beautiful, understated and ingenious wristwatches currently on sale today. And you'll know that once you've experienced what Moser have to offer, you'll forever be on the lookout for what they have next on their drawing board.

Perpetual Calendar

I'm standing by the Moser stand at this years Salon QP, and introduced firstly to their Perpetual Calendar - model reference 341.501-022 in yellow gold with brown dial (not shown here) - which many members here will be familiar with. It's a paragon of simplicity. Instantaneous date change and user manipulation of the perpetual calendar - both impossible on many other perpetual calendar watches for fear of destroying the mechanism - is just brilliant in operation, as demonstrated for me by Moser's excellent and knowledgeable brand representative, and so I'm told, unique in the industry.

Curved case back of the Perpetual Calendar

After playing with this for a few minutes it makes you wonder why other more well known brands haven't employed such a mechanism. It's my first time with the brand and the watch leaves me giggling like a little school girl. 326 parts, 7-10 day power reserve, and a gorgeously ergonomic 40.8 millimetre's of sheer brilliance case are the cause. It is worth noting that Moser pride themselves on the modular nature of their movements, boasting that any of their worldwide services centres can service any of their mechanisms.

Nomad GMT in platinum

We move onto a piece that was released at this years Baselworld, the Nomad Dual Time - model reference 346.134-003 - available in platinum or yellow gold, a watch that features the brands first automatic movement - the HMC346 . I have to say that I fall in love with it the moment I see it, it's as if I'm hit by a brick. This watch is stunning. Again it follows the now well established Moser trait of understated elegance. I adore the red GMT hand; it's colourful enough to distinguish itself from the home-time hour hand, but not too brash to be an eyesore on the sublime brushed grey dial.

A few technical details of the in-house movement are worth noting. The exquisitely finished HMC346 has a "doublepull" crown system where, regardless of how hard one pulls the crown, it will always revert to the first position. Only then can one pull the crown to the second position. Designed so that the user cannot inadvertently adjust the time - the movement features hack seconds and as you'll know, stopping the movement will affect the accuracy - it's another example of the brains trust at Moser working overtime to create useable functions that matter in day to day operation. Back to pulling the crown. The first position operates the red GMT hand, the second the home-time. A small dot below the twelve o'clock marker indicates AM (white) or PM (black) for the home-time.

HMC 346 in all its glory

Listening back to the voice recorder while writing this piece, I keep hearing the word "stunning" passing my lips in relation to the Nomad.

Mayu Small Seconds with Fumee dial

I end my time with Moser by asking where the brand will be going in the next few years. Currently running the advertising campaign "Very Rare" which you'll see on our Public Forum, Moser's is a campaign based on the "those who know, know" stance when it comes to brand exposure. As such, they're keen on consolidation of the product line and focusing on useful complications. They have no plans to produce a sports watch - a weekend watch is in the planning - but we won't be seeing that for another few years.

To conclude, this brand is so competitively priced, produces watches of such understated beauty and of such technical ingenuity it's plain to see that big things are on the horizon for this resurrected Schaffhausen brand.

Thanks for looking,

Alex

"Nationalism is power-hunger tempered by self deception" - George Orwell